Mop element and a manufacturing method thereof

ABSTRACT

AN IMPOVED MOP ELEMENT IS MANUFACTURED BY FIRST ARRANGING A NUMBER OF TOUGH, WATER-INSOLUBLE STRANDS IN THE FORM OF A NEAT ROW OF PARALLEL STRANDS AS THE WARPS, THEREAFTER WEAVING THESE WARPS INTO A CONTINUOUS LENGTHY PLAIN FABRIC BY REPEATING THE PROCESS OF WEAVING TWO KINDS OF CONTINUOUS ADJACENT PLAINLY WOVEN SECTIONS, ONE OF WHICH BEING WOVEN, UP TO A PREDETERMINED BREADTH, WITH SAID WARPS OF STRANDS AND WEFTS OF A TOUGH, BUT WATER-SOLUBLE CHEMICAL FILAMENT AND THE OTHER OF SAID ADJACENT SECTIONS BEING WOVEN, UP TO A PREDETERMINED RELATIVELY NARROW BREADTH, WITH THE ADJACENT WARPS OF STRANDS AND WEFTS OF A WATER-INSOLUBLE TOUGH YARN MADE OF FIBERS SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF NATURAL FIBERS CHEMICAL FIBERS, SYNTHETIC FIBERS AND THEIR MIXTURES SO THAT THE RESULTING CONTINUOUS PLAIN FABRIC CONSISTS OF A PLURALITY OF SAID TWO SECTONS DISPOED IN ALTERNATE FASHION, AND CUTTING THE CONTINUOUS LENGTHY PLAIN FABRIC ALONG THE TRANSVERSE CENTER LINE IN EACH OF THE SECTIONS WOVEN WITH THE WARPS OF STRANDS AND WEFTS OF A WATER-SOLUBLE CHEMICAL FILAMENT, SO THAT THE MOP ELEMENTSTHUS PREPARED ARE EASILY STITCEHED TO PIECE OF TOUGH CLOTH TO FORM A MOP HEAD. IN USE, IT IS ONLY NECESSARY TO SOAK THE RESULTING MOP ELEMENT: STITCHED TO A PICE OF CLOTH IN WATER TO DISSOLVE SAID WATER-SOLUBLE CHEMICAL FILAMENT WEFTS.

March 9, 1971 TosHavos'z-n KOMATSU 3,563,234

' MOP ELEMENT AND A MANUFACTURING METHOD'THEREOF File d Dec. 31, 1968 FIG.

FIG. 2

J H I INVENTOR ATTORNEY5 United States Patent O MOP ELEMENT AND A MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF Toshiyoshi Komatsu, Osaka-shi, Japan, assignor to Duskin E'anchise Co., Ltd., Osaka-ski, Japan Filed Dec. 31, 1968, Ser. No. 788,131

Claims priority, application Japan, Sept. 26, 1968,

Int. Cl. A471 13/20 U.S. Cl. 15-229 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An improved mop element is manufactured by first arranging a number of tough, water-insoluble strands in the form of a neat row of parallel strands as the warps, thereafter weaving these warps into a continuous lengthy plain fabric by repeating the process of weaving two kinds of continuous adjacent plainly woven sections, one of which being woven, upto a predetermined breadth, with said warps of strands and wefts of a tough, but water-soluble chemical filament and the other of said adjacent sections being woven, up to a predetermined relatively narrow breadth, with the adjacent warps of strands and wefts of a water-insoluble tough yarn made of fibers selected from the group consisting of natural fibers, chemical fibers, synthetic fibers and their mixtures so that the resulting continuous plain fabric consists of a plurality of said two sections disposed in alternate fashion, and cutting the continuous lengthy plain fabric along the transverse center line in each of the sections woven with the warps of strands and wefts of a water-soluble chemical filament, so that the mop elements thus prepared are easily stitched to a piece of tough cloth to form a mop head. In use, it is only necessary to soak the resulting mop element stitched to a piece of cloth in water to dissolve said Water-soluble chemical filament wefts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of the invention The present invention is concerned with an improved mop element and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, it relates to an improved mop element and a manufacturing method thereof by the use of warps of strands and weaving them into a continuous lengthly plain fabric in which two different kinds of woven sections are disposed in alternate fashion, one of said two sections being woven with said warps of strands and wefts of a tough, but water-soluble chemical filament and the other of the sections being woven with the adjacent warps of strands and wefts of a water-insoluble yarn, cutting the resulting continuous lengthy plain fabric along the transverse centerline in each of the sections Woven with said warps of strands and said wefts of a tough, but watersoluble chemical filament, so that the mop elements thus prepared are easily stitched together to a piece of tough cloth to form a mop head.

(b) Description of the prior art In the mop element manufacturing method of the prior art, a large number of individual separate strands were first arranged so as to form one neat row of strands laid in a side-by-side parallel relation to each other, and 1 this row of strands was then fed to the operating tip of the needle of a sewing machine so that the row of the individual parallel strands was stitched to a lengthly narrow strip of tough cloth such as canvas, leaving the portions of the strands having free ends to extend for a predetermined distance from both edges of the tough cloth. How- Patented Mar. 9, 1971 ever, there was encountered a great difiiculty in stitching the strands to the cloth without deranging the initial neat row, and the successful performance of this stitching required a highly-trained skill and advanced technique. In the past, therefore, this operation of stitching the row of parallel strands neatly to a lengthy strip of tough cloth has been performed with only a low elficiency, and it has been difficult to manufacture, by relying on the conventional method, mop elements continuously in large quantities on an industrial basis.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to eliminate the foregoing drawbacks of the mop element manufacturing methods of the prior art and to provide an improved mop element and a method for manufacturing such mop elements by the use of strands which are laid in parallel, side-by-side relation to each other and by weaving them, as the warps into the continuation of woven fabric consisting of alternately disposed two kinds of plainly woven sections, one of which being woven, up to a predetermined breadth, with said warps of strands and wefts of a tough, but water-soluble filament and the other of the sections being woven, up to a predetermined relatively narrow breadth, with the adjacent warps of strands and wefts of a water-insoluble yarn, eventually forming a continuous plainly woven fabric which is quite convenient for being applied to the feeding mechanism of a sewing machine because there arises no derangement of the row of strands owing to the fact that they are connected to each other by the water-soluble chemical wefts.

More specifically, the present invention provides an improved mop element and a method for manufacturing the same which permits the whole manufacturing operation to be performed, with a great deal of easiness and which is suitable for being employed in mass production on an industrial basis, said method comprising the following steps that, first, a large number of strands each being made with a plurality of tough yarns produced with, for example, synthetic fibers and by imparting them an appropriate degree of twist to form a twisted strandsare arranged in the form of a neat row of strands laid in parallel, side-by-side relationship to each other to be used as the warps; thereafter weaving, by use of an appriprate weaving apparatus, a plain fabric of a predetermined breadth with these warps and with wefts consisting of a tough, but water-soluble chemical yarn; thereafter weaving, as a continuous section, a plain fabric of a predetermined narrow breadth with the adjacent warps of strands and with wefts consisting of a water-insoluble yarn made of fibers selected from the group consisting of natural fibers, such as cotton fibers, chemical fibers, synthetic fibers and their mixtures; repeating these weaving processes to form a continuous lengthy woven plain fabric having alternately disposed sections; and cutting this continuous, lengthy plain fabric along the transverse center line in each section of fabric woven with said warps of strands and said wefts of a water-soluble chemical filament. Each of the pieces of fabric thus severed constitutes an individual mop element in the form of being developed in one plane and being arranged in such a way that the narrow section woven with the warps of strands and with wefts of a Water-soluble yarn is flanked, on both sides, by two sections of plain fabric having equal breadths which both are woven with warps of strands and wefts of a watersoluble filament, the breadth of each of these latter two sections corresponding to one half of the breadth of the section of the same kind in the continuous plain fabric prior to being cut and severed. These severed individual mop elements are used in such a way that they are assembled together and stitched to an anchoring member such as a piece of tough cloth to form one complete mop head, and this complete mop head is dipped in Water, whereupon the water-soluble chemical filament which is used as the wefts in the assembled pieces of fabric will dissolve away in water, and as a result, the warps of strands which have been connected to each other till then by the water-soluble chemical filament wefts are released and disconnected from each other and will be allowed to depend downwardly at each lateral edges of the narrow fabric section woven with the strands and the waterinsoluble wefts to present the practically usable shape of mop head.

As has been described above, according to the present invention, the operationof stitching the severed pieces of plain fabric-which are in thestage prior to being dipped in the waterto a tough piece of cloth is performed while the individual strands are still connected to each other and not separated from each other for free movement unlike the rows of strands stitched together in the operation according to the conventional methods, and therefore, themop element which is provided in the form of a plain fabric by the present invention is quite convenient for being applied to the feeding mechanism of sewing machines andinsures easy and satisfactory stitching.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The drawings illustrate the manner in which the method of the present invention is put into practice, in 'which: FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a part of a continuous, lengthy plain fabric consisting of alternatively arranged two different kinds of fabric sections which are woven by first arranging a number of warps of strands in the form of a neat row of parallel strands, thereafter weaving first plain fabric section with said warps of strands and with a tough, but water-soluble chemical filament, and then weaving continuous adjacent section of plain fabric woven with some of the remaining warps of strands and with wefts of a water-insoluble yarn, and by repeating these weaving processes;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, showing a part of a complete mop element which is obtained by first cutting the continuous, lengthy plain fabric shown in FIG. 1 along the transverse central line in the plain fabric section which has been woven with said warps of strands and with said water-soluble chemical filament.

In the drawings, like parts are indicated by like reference numeral for the simplicity of explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention will hereunder be described on one embodiment by referring to the drawing.

In the drawing, reference number 1 representsa strand which is formed by appropriately twisting together a plurality of yarns made of fibers selected from the group consisting of natural fibers such as cotton fibers and synthetic fibers, especially acrylonitn'le synthetic fibers, and their mixture. A number of these continuous lengthy strands are arranged in the predetermined parallel positions on the weaving machine so as to serve the warps. Then, using wefts each consisting of a tough, but watersoluble chemical filament 2 such as a polyvinyl alcohol filament, there is woven a plain fabric with said warps of strands and these wefts up to a breadth corresponding to twice the length of each tuft-like portion of the complete mop head which depends from the lateral edges of the central plain fabric section which serves to hold the tuft-like free-ended strands. Then, adjacent to this section of plain fabric thus woven, there is woven further a plain fabric of a narrow breadth with the unwoven portions of the warps of strands and with wefts each consisting of a water-insoluble tough yarn 3 made of fibers selected from the group consisting of natural fibers such as cotton fibers, chemical fibers, synthetic fibers, and their mixtures. These two kinds of plain fabrics are woven repeatedly in alternate fashion by theuse of the same warps is woven with the warps of strands and with the wefts of a water-soluble filament 2. Each of the resulting individual plain fabrics thus severed will have the structure that a plain fabric section of a narrow breadth which is woven with the warps of strands and with the wefts of a water-insoluble yarn made of either natural fibers such as cotton fibers, or synthetic fibers, or their mixtures, is flanked-on both sides in continuous fashion with said narrow breadth section-by two sections of plain fabric woven with the warps of strands and with wefts of a watersoluble chemical filament 2, each of said two flanking sections of plain fabric extending up to a length corresponding to that of each of the tuft-like portions of the complete mop depending from both sides of the central narrow fabric made of the wefts of a water-insoluble yarn and the warps of strands. As the aforesaid severed mop element in the form of a plain fabric is soaked in water, the water-soluble chemical filament wefts 2 will dissolve away in water, and the individual strands having free ends which have been connected to each other till then by the wefts of the water-soluble chemical filament 2 will be separated from each other, forming a complete mop head of the type that two rows of tuft-like strands of a required length depend downwardly from the bilateral edges of the central narrow plain fabric section. A plurality of the severed individual mop elements which are thus produced in the form of plain fabric prior to being dipped in water are then stitched together to a mop element holding piece of tough cloth such as canvas in the section of the narrow plain fabric in each mop element.

As has been described, the method of the present invention obviates the complicated and diflicult operation in the prior art of stitching a row of individual parallel strands to a tough piece of cloth wherein derangement of the neat row of strands has been unavoidable. These inconvenience and difficulty gave rise to a considerable re duction in the efficiency of the operation. According to the method of the present invention, contrary to the prior art, a multitude of warps consisting of strands 1 and wefts consisting of a Water-soluble chemical filament 2 are woven to form a first section of plain fabric, and then a second section is woven with the adjacent warps of strands and with wefts of a Water-insoluble yarn v3, so that there is obtained a continuous lengthy plain fabric consisting of alternately assorted two sections made of different wefts. The sewing of this continuous plain fabric to an anchoring piece of tough cloth is by far the more conveniently performed as compared with the instance in corporating the prior art where the individual strands disposed in a row are not connected each other. Therefore, this method of the present invention which contemplates the formation of the aforesaid plain fabric is quite convenient in applying the fabric to the feeding mechanism of sewing machines, and insures satisfactory stitching, and furthermore, it greatly enhances the efliciency of the operation especially where this method is employed industrially.

I claim:

1. A method for manufacturing a mop e1ernent,,comprlsmg first arranging a number of warps of water-insoluble tough strands in the form of a neat row of parallel strands, thereafter Weaving these warps into a continuous lengthy plain fabric by repeating the process of weaving continuous and adjacently and alternately disposed two kinds of plainly woven fabric sections, one of which being woven, up to a predetermined breadth, with said warps of strandsand wefts of a tough, but water-soluble chemical filament and the other of said adjacent sections being woven, up to a predetermined relatively narrow breadth, with the adjacent warps of strands and wefts of a Waterinsoluble tough yarn made of fibers selected from the group consisting of natural fibers, chemical fibers, synthetic fibers and their mixtures, and cutting the resulting continuous lengthy plainly woven fabric along the transverse center line in each of the sections Woven with the warps of strands and wefts of a water-soluble chemical filament.

2. A mop element woven in the form of a continuous fabric comprising adjacently and alternately disposed two kinds of plainly woven fabric sections, one of which sections being woven, up to a predetermined breadth with warps consisting of a neat row of parallel, water-insoluble strands and with wefts of a tough but water-soluble chemical filament, the other of said fabric sections being woven, up to a predetermined relatively narrow breadth with adjacent unwoven part of said warps of strands and with wefts of a water-insoluble tough yarn made of fibers selected from the group consisting of natural fibers, chemical fibers, synthetic fibers and their mixtures, so that the resulting mop element in fabric form is of the arrangement that said the other of the plainly woven fabric sections is flanked by said one of the plainly woven fabric sections on both sides of said one of the fabric sections.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,122,623 7/1938 Rogers 15-208UX 2,435,543 2/1948 Johnson et al 28-76(T) 3,377,678 4/1968 Moriya 2876(T) FOREIGN PATENTS 533,969 9/1931 Germany 30021 660,255 2/ 1964 Italy '28-76(T) 15 DANIEL BLUM, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 2876; 300--2l 

